Travel companies are being urged to build more trust with travellers in order to sustain and grow their revenue.
An InterContinental® Hotels Group launched its 2015 Trends Report, identified that while many companies focus on the three Cs of organisational wealth: Financial Capital, Intellectual Capital and Human Capital, many travel operators are lagging in the trust department, which represents the confidence consumers have in the credibility, integrity, leadership and responsibility of an organisation and its brands.
“As we look around us, there are so many shifts taking place. In a digital, 24/7 world, where personalisation is increasing and consumers have a new definition of value, the trust that people have in both brands and the organisation behind them is more important than ever.”
Richard Solomons, IHG chief executive officer
Mr Solomons said research shows trust with a consumer will deliver ‘sustainable, high quality revenue growth’.
And how does one achieve trust with their client?
IHG says this can be done through focus on personalisation whilst being aware of the boundaries and develop a deep understanding of how guest needs are changing by demographic and by geography.
“For IHG, maintaining our focus in these areas will help us to continue to build genuine guest loyalty and rewarding relationships between our guests and our brands, now and into the future.”
Image: Songchai W/Shutterstock
Unsurprisingly, the report also found Baby Boomers and Millennials are incredibly different when it comes to travel, because they have different mind-sets, world views, desires and approaches to brand and trust.
To manage both properly, IHG suggests:
- Millennials prefer close, experiential relationships with brands whereas Boomers look for brand relationships that go smoothly, with no hitches or glitches:
- 23 percent of Millennials say they want to stay in hotels that say something about them, versus 11 percent of Boomers
- Millennials are more apt to be ‘invisible Travellers’ than Boomers – people who can move through the guest journey without caring for people-enabled contact
- 67 percent of Boomers say they would prefer to call a hotel and speak with ‘real’ people on-site for information, versus 56 percent of Millennials
- Millennials and Boomers have different desires when travelling as a family. Millennials look for places that have family-centric activities where their children will be well taken care of and will have fun. Boomers prefer everyone to be together in a multi-generational way